Andover Regional School District

Inspiring Growth Through Community, Curiosity, and Connection

Small Class Sizes, Caring Teachers, and a Clear Vision for Student Success

In the charming rural community of Sussex County, New Jersey, Andover Regional School District is creating a culture rich with opportunities for learning and connection. Serving 450 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, this thriving district boasts a student-to-teacher ratio of 8:1 and offers the benefits of a close-knit community with the academic support and experiences families expect.

Supporting the Whole Child

The district takes a holistic approach to education, giving students a strong foundation for future success. “I really believe that in Andover, we all are responsible for educating the whole child,” Superintendent John Fritzky conveys. “That means academically, especially when it comes to things like literacy, but also the whole child in terms of them being able to learn how to emotionally regulate themselves and how to help others in their community.”

One of the most important areas of focus in recent years has been social and emotional learning, specifically in helping students develop the tools to understand and manage their emotions. According to Nicole Dilkes, Principal of Florence M. Burd Elementary School, the need became especially clear as students returned to school following the pandemic.

“Being an educator for 15 years at that point, I knew students were going to come back struggling,” she acknowledges. “We did see a lot of struggles, in terms of behavior and emotional regulation, character development. We saw the academic holes as well, but I was more worried about how they were coming to school and how they were going to be available to learn.”

To address these challenges, the district implemented the Zones of Regulation program, a research-based framework that helps students recognize emotions and develop self-regulation strategies. “There are a couple of different programs out there, but we landed on Zones of Regulation because it is very simple,” expands Dilkes. “There are four colors, and it uses very child-friendly language. Those colors then turn into tools that you use to regulate your Zone to be successful.”

Early Learning for Strong Foundations

Another area of focus for the district has been early childhood education. Over the past four years, Andover RSD has expanded its early learning program through a state Preschool Expansion Grant, creating more access for families and benefiting academic outcomes. “The state really was pushing for that for students and for our community,” notes Jennifer Reynolds, Coordinator of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. “We have continued to grow each year, and we’re almost meeting what the state considers to be our universe, and I feel that’s been really instrumental in the progress that we’ve seen as a district.”

Andover RSD now offers five preschool classes and one preschool disabled class. “It is a game changer for a lot of our families who struggle financially, to now have free preschool for all,” she says.

“The beauty of that is that our families are saving a significant amount of money, which is life-changing. And for us, it’s excellent, because we now have these students two years earlier than we would have in the past, and we’re able to work with them on things like the zones of regulation, and we can build connections with the families and our community at a younger age.”

The preschool expansion coincided with another important initiative, the New Jersey Tiered Systems of Support Early Literacy Grant. “We’ve been really working hard for the past two years with meeting the needs of our students from a literacy perspective,” Reynolds expands. “We have seen such great growth, and we’re very excited about our inclusion in that grant.”

Together, these programs have created a cohesive approach, supporting success from the beginning. “We had a lot of great things going on in the school, but they were all kind of disconnected, and we were trying to find a way to take those different pieces and knit them together into a really tight sweater. And we feel that’s what this grant has done for us,” Reynolds asserts.

Learning Through Service and Engagement

Education at Andover RSD extends beyond classroom walls, and students are given a variety of hands-on learning opportunities that encourage responsibility. One example is a partnership with Sustainable Jersey and Thor Labs, which resulted in the installation of an on-site food composter that has become a real-life learning lab for students.

“We realized that there was a significant amount of food waste here at FMB,” Dilkes explains. “So one of the big initiatives was to write a grant to Sustainable Jersey for a composter.” When funding fell short, Thor Labs stepped in. “We’re very lucky to have them right down the street. They’re very generous with the community and supportive of the schools,” she continues. “So one of our teachers reached out to the CEO over there, and they gave us the other $10,000. So now we have our composter.”

Fourth-grade students take ownership of the process, working on a rotating schedule to sort through the trash and dump the food waste into the composter. “My fourth graders are my oldest kids in the school, and I’ve really been working very hard to give them more responsibility and more buy-in. They’re going to middle school next year, and they’re the leaders of the school,” she describes. “It only takes about 10 minutes, but it’s a huge responsibility.” The final stage of the process is boxing up the compost to be used in the school garden, teaching the cycle of sustainability, and showing the students the usefulness of their efforts.

Service learning is also embedded into the curriculum at Andover RSD. “I’m a big believer in making the learning as relevant to their real lives as possible and pulling in your community,” stresses Reynolds. “I love community partnerships, and when kids get to know their neighbors, it makes everything better.”

Through an initiative sparked by Dilkes and an elementary teacher working towards her principal certification, second-grade students are now participating in a learning opportunity that helps the greater community. “We know that service learning and community service help build empathy and connection to their community, their peers, and real life connection to academic work,” Dilkes says. “But to do service learning the right way is very time-consuming. So when Lauren came to me about her certification internship project, she wanted to do service learning. It just fits in with everything she believes in.”

With food insecurity on the rise in the community, this was chosen as a topic to explore, starting with classroom experiences such as stories that help them to understand the issue. Then, a partnership with Sparta Food Pantry made it possible for them to get involved firsthand.

“The kids decided on a food drive. They created posters. They helped collect the food, helped count it, sort it,” Dilkes details. “They carried the food with them onto the bus and carried it into the food pantry. These kids were marking UPCs, they were sorting, they were unboxing. So their hands have been in it.”  The involvement continues through follow-up projects such as holiday placemats and goodie bags. “Our hope is that we can use that as a boilerplate for all of our other grade levels,” she says.

The Andover Regional Education Foundation was also part of the efforts, purchasing books for the classrooms, paying for buses, and contributing to the care packages. Reynolds emphasizes, “We are so small, so it really takes a village to do these things. We have a very supportive PTA and Education Foundation in our district that supports our endeavors a lot.”

Looking Ahead

As the Andover Regional School District looks toward the future, Superintendent Fritzky says the focus will be on expanding partnerships, enriching wellness and academic programs, and continuing to build resilience and community engagement. “I think it’s to go deeper in a lot of the things that we’re already doing,” he imparts. “The service learning project is a huge success, and it’s just starting. So what I’m looking for is for those projects and that passion that the teachers have, to expand to other grades.”

With this in mind, he hopes to connect with other community organizations, partnering with Sustainable New Jersey to bring more opportunities for hands-on learning. “When they realize that they have the power to impact and do things beyond just themselves, I really think that that helps us to create great humans,” he concludes. “I know in school there’s a lot of pressure among teachers to have academic success. But I don’t want to lose sight of what it means to create great humans. That’s bigger than just literacy, which is important, but we have to do it all.”

AT A GLANCE

Who: Andover Regional School District

What: A PreK-8 school district bringing unique learning opportunities to students.

Where: Sussex County, New Jersey

Website: www.andoverregional.org